Connection
by Redzik
Summary: Derek is having dreams.


Gift for red-hot-maeday in Sterek Haven Secret Santa on Tumblr.

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Teen Wolf and it's characters.

* * *

_Derek..._

His whispered name made him look around in the surrounding darkness searching for the source of the annoyingly familiar voice calling him.

… _Derek..._

If he could only place to whom this voice belonged to. Who was calling him.

… _Derek..._

Because he had no doubts the owner of the voice was calling for him.

… _Derek..._

Derek focused all of his other senses, since he couldn't see anything everywhere.

… _Derek..._

The voice grew louder, more insistent, more hurried, more desperate.

… _Derek!..._

It made him more anxious to find that person. More frantic in his search.

… _Derek! Derek! DEREK!..._

He screamed in frustration and slashed at the empty air with his claws. But suddenly the air wasn't so empty. He felt his clawed fingers dig into flesh, the blood staining his hands. He snapped his head up, getting face to face with Boyd. He gasped, immediately withdrawing his hands and caught his beta as the large body crumpled to the ground.

"Oh God, no!" he panicked. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Boyd. I'm sorry."

With an effort Boyd grabbed at the collar of his shirt and pulled him closer. "Come back," the huge Beta whispered with the last breath.

"What?" Derek asked, stunned. "Boyd, no! NO!"

_DEREK!_

"DEREK!"

The werewolf shot up in his bed, breathing heavily, drenched in sweat.

"Derek?" Cora asked from the beside him with a worried frown. "Are you alright? You were screaming."

"I don't-" Derek shook his head. "I don't know."

"What happened?"

Derek shivered, "I dreamed of Boyd."

"Boyd?" his sister looked at him in confusion. "But you yelled Stiles' name just before you woke up."

"Stiles?" Derek repeated dumbly. Of course it was Stiles. How did he not recognized the teenager's voice in a dream?

"Derek? Do you want to tell me about it?"

"There's nothing to tell, Cora. He was calling me. Stiles was calling for me. Then Boyd appeared," he swallowed hard, deciding to skip the killing part, "and told me to come back."

"Then you should," Cora stated.

"Don't be ridiculous," Derek shook his head and sighed. "It was just a dream."

"Are you sure?" Cora persisted. "You may not follow up on the mate thing, but you are connected."

"I- Mate- What?" Derek sputtered, not knowing which issue to address first. "I'm not connected to that annoying little brat!"

Cora rolled her eyes, "Seriously? Whether you like it or not, you both made sacrifices to the Nemeton. And the potential of you being mates could strengthen that link. I think you should go."

"Cora," the older werewolf growled.

"Derek," his sister growled back.

They stared at each other for a minute.

Finally Derek sighed in defeat, "Fine. We'll go in the morning. Go back to sleep."

* * *

In the morning they had quick breakfast, gathered their things, checked out of motel and began the long journey home.

Derek had a few more dreams of Stiles calling him. Just his name, repeated more insistingly the closer the Hale siblings got to Beacon Hills. After the last stop for the night before reaching their destination, Derek could hear the boy occasionally while awake. Also he started to feel a pull, adding to his need to reach Stiles and make sure he was okay.

The sun set and the world was slowly darkening when they were about one our away from Beacon Hills, driving the road surrounded by the forest.

Suddenly Derek veered off the road, directing the car into the woods.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Cora demanded, clutching onto the holder for dear life as the car bounced on uneven terrain, slaloming between the trees.

"Just..." Derek, clenched his jaw, concentrating on driving for a few moments more before slamming on the breaks. "Here." He hurriedly shut the engine off and exited the car, not even bothering to shut the door behind him. Derek ran around the front of the car onto Cora's side and into the woods. Cora swore and scrambled after him.

They didn't even made ten meters when Stiles stumbled from behind the trees before them.

The teen boy's hair was wet with perspiration, sticking to his forehead; his clothes were dirtied and torn in a few places; his knees and hands were scraped as if Stiles stumbled several times on his way, and knowing how clumsy he was it could happened a number of times. He was on the brink of collapsing from the exertion, breathing hard, heart beating fast and loud.

All three froze, shocked. Stiles crashed, landing on his hand and knees, staring at them in disbelief.

A few seconds later the boy yelped as he fell flat on his face and started being dragged back into the forest. He twisted quickly onto his back and kicked at his assailant, not really making any difference.

The werewolves watched for a second in confusion as Stiles was pulled away with impressive speed by nothing at all. Though it couldn't match the enraged Hales as they moved into action.

Derek went after the invisible opponent, slashing with his claws at the air near Stiles' leg. The claws connected and there was a screech, while the teenager's leg dropped to the ground. Cora was on Stiles in an instant and pulled him to his feet. In the next second she was thrown to the side.

"No!" Stiles wailed as he felt invisible hands pulling at him. Derek was there in an instant lashing out at the air around the teen. When he was sure the creature was not in the immediate range, the werewolf backed Stiles up against the tree, pinning him there lightly with his back, while he looked around carefully. It got darker, making it difficult to see anything. Luckily he wasn't human.

"What is this thing?" Cora asked, slowly walking back to them, trying without luck to track the enemy.

"I have no idea," Stiles gasped out. "But I'm pretty sure there is two of them."

"Great!" she huffed. She met Derek's eyes as she sensed a movement behind her. Derek nodded and they lunged.

Cora turned in a flash and attacked the creature, not letting it go for even a second.

Derek jumped to his right, tackling the creature to the ground and sinking his fangs and claws wherever he could reach. After a few moments it was over.

"Well, that was fun," Cora commented. "Let's not do this again. Come on, I wanna shower."

Derek adjusted his clothes and looked down at the boy they rescued. In the time the werewolf wasn't pressing him to the tree, Stiles slid down to sit against it, curled tightly into himself, making his body into the smallest target possible. Derek reached his hand and placed it on teenager's shoulder.

"No!" Stiles screamed and flailed, pulling away from him.

"Stiles!" Derek grabbed him, God, the kid was practically frozen to death, and flashed his electric blue eyes at the boy. "It's me. Calm down. It's just me."

"De-Derek!" Stiles choked out.

"It's okay," the werewolf soothed, shedding his jacket and placing it around Stiles' shoulders. "Let's get you home, okay?"

"Okay," the boy nodded, hunching into the warmth.

There was a moment of stillness.

"You need to move if you want to get home," Derek pointed out.

"Warm," Stiles mumbled. Now, that he was safe, the adrenaline abated, leaving him exhausted.

Derek sighed. They didn't had the time. It was dark and getting colder. There could be more of those creatures around. And if Stiles was to walk that short distance to the car, he probably would trip on something with each step he took. So there wasn't really a choice. Carefully the werewolf placed his arm around boy's shoulders, the other one under his knees and lifted him from the ground. Stiles barely reacted, snuggling into Derek's chest with contented noise.

When Derek made back to the car, Cora already had the back door open and med-kit ready.

"I'm driving," she declared gleefully.

Derek rolled his eyes, but didn't protest. He squeezed himself into the back seat with Stiles, arranging him comfortably against him. If anyone asked it was for sharing body heat.

"I missed you, Sourwolf," Stiles murmured, pushing himself even closer to the werewolf.

Derek paused in reaching for the med-kit and looked at the teen. Stiles was watching him trough half-lidded eyes, awaiting his reaction. Derek smiled slightly and ran his fingers through sweat plastered hair.

"I missed you too," he replied.

Stiles smiled, closing his eyes. Between one breath and the next he was asleep.


End file.
